Water In Motor

[Some Kind Of Monster]

I've been lurking here for awhile to learn more about my boat, and I have just now run into my first major problem. I discovered that there was water in my oil. Blown head gasket right? We tore the 454 .60 over motor apart, and discovered water IN the cylinders, and LOTS of it. I am beginning to speculate that the water got in there through my water injected headers. We have been running it out of water with a garden hose to get it dialed in. I suspect that water can build up in the headers when the motor is not running and overflow into the cylinder despite the small drain hole under the pipes. This is about the only answer I can figure out. Does anyone have any other ideas or suggestions on how to run this thing to keep water out? Thanks everyone!

[sleekvino]

it could be from your headers or it could be to much pressure running through the hose.you never can tell untill you get it out in the water.if you had lots of water on both sides of the motor in you pistons.then it prodley isnt your head gaskets.good luck

[diggler]

You really want to control how much water is going through the hose. Let me guess, you started the hose for a little bit before the engine was started right? Probably by that time, the injected headers were full of water as the small weep holes in the bottom of them couldn't keep up.
Then the water probably got sucked in through the heads. I know this, because I did it too once. I always set the hose flow so it's just dribbling. Actually, now I won't even use a hose because I will not run the engine long enough to damage the pump so the engine never gets hot.

[Some Kind Of Monster]

Can I get a pressure regulator? Anyone know who sells one?

[diggler]

Some use a pressure regulator, some don't. I control the water to my injected headers by the Bassett T-Valve, and then on each line to their respective header, I put a gate valve in to have control over the flow to each one individually.
I've seen some use the pressure regulator successfully, but I could never get it to work right, and my engine always started getting hotter than I wanted it to.

[Tom Foolery]

Water in the cylinders through the headers is possible especially if you have the hose on hard enough to overcome the t-valve spring. I used to turn the water off to my headers when running it on the trailer just to make sure that wouldn't happen.
When you were testing it were the headers fogging from water injection? If so then you had enough pressure to bypass the spring and it probably is how water entered the motor.

[Some Kind Of Monster]

I do have the a couple valves to control flow with, but it is a question of how much to open each valve. It isn't a very good deal to have to go to the lake every time you want to dial in a new part.. Looks like thats where this is heading for me. Luckily I am only about 20 minutes from the Saguaro boat traffic jam.

[Some Kind Of Monster]

I don't believe they were fogging, but as Diggler said, I did turn the water on (not full blast, but decent) and let it run several seconds before starting the motor.. I would also let the water run after cutting the motor for adjustments too. I can't believe it would even start with the amount of water I found in there. This still doesn't explain how water got in the oil. Perhaps the head gasket was blown as well. It looked borderline when we replaced it.

[LVjetboy]

My guess when you got water in the cylinders, some leaked past the rings into the oil. I suppose you could've also hydraulic'd some past the head gasket if there was enough in the cylinder when you cranked. I think a better approach for driveway runs is to valve the header injector circuit so you can shut it off before startup and shutdown. That way you can circulate water thru the engine without it running...no vapor pockets. When the engine's above 1500-2000, then turn the headers on. One thing to keep in mind is header injection set for proper pump water flow will not be the same as tap water because with tap water the pressure stay constant. The best approach is to eventually go electric. That way engine rpm controls injection and you have no more worries.
jer

[Roman 1]

Do you have a big cam?? Water can be sucked in at idle from a cam with a decent amount of overlap! Use the t-valve and put a restrictive pill (whichever size works best -you may need to experiment) at the beginning of the hardline to the pipes. It doesn't hurt to run a barrel valve of the main supply line to the t-valve. Your headers should be dry at idle.
Good luck,
RC

[Keithb87]

SKM,
Are you being supervised? :confused:

[Some Kind Of Monster]

Supervised? Sounds like someone doesn't want to take partial responsibility.

[LVjetboy]

Done with this thread.

[Keithb87]

When I supervised SKM's work on the motor, I did not see any problem with the Head Gasket. I had forgotten that he had ran the motor with the water hooked up the night before.
I think most of the water into the oil came from a improperly torked intake manifold.
He's back up and running now, and I have not heard from him yet, so I'll assume that it is running ok at the lake. (hope for the best).
Keith (my boat won't see water for a while so I guess I'll help someone out) B 87:D

[Some Kind Of Monster]

Yeah Keith, Well get to the lake one way or another right?
The problem has not been rectified. We did not run the boat out of water this time to rule out the scenerio of water entering from the headers. We droped it in the lake with brand new oil and within a few minutes it was white and water infested. I'm running out of ideas here..